Papers

61,005 results
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Article Tier 2

The Challenge of the Analysis of Nanoplastics in the Environment: Current Status and Perspectives

This review examines the analytical challenges of detecting and characterising nanoplastics in environmental samples, presenting the state of the art in size determination, chemical composition analysis, and quantification techniques, as well as a survey of nanoplastic model materials used in the literature.

2022
Article Tier 2

Advancements in environmental nanoplastics research

This review synthesises advances in environmental nanoplastics research, discussing distinctions between nanoplastics and microplastics in physicochemical properties, limitations in current analytical methods for environmental samples, and gaps between laboratory exposure studies and real-world concentrations. The authors highlight emerging evidence of nanoplastics in human organs and excretions and argue that methodological breakthroughs will usher in a 'nano era' of plastic pollution research.

2025 Chinese Science Bulletin (Chinese Version)
Article Tier 2

Nanoplastics: From Separations to Analysis—Challenges and Limitations

This review examines the challenges of analyzing nanoplastics in environmental samples, from sample preparation to identification. Researchers found that techniques commonly used for larger microplastics are often ineffective for nanoplastics, and that isolating these tiny particles from complex environmental samples remains a major technical hurdle. The study summarizes the advantages and limitations of current microscopic, spectroscopic, and thermal analysis methods and calls for standardized approaches.

2025 Separations 9 citations
Article Tier 2

New Analytical Approaches for Effective Quantification and Identification of Nanoplastics in Environmental Samples

This review assessed new analytical approaches for quantifying and identifying nanoplastics in environmental samples, highlighting fundamental challenges in detection due to their small size and the need for improved methods to understand nanoplastic contamination levels.

2021 Processes 31 citations
Article Tier 2

Physicochemical characterization and quantification of nanoplastics: applicability, limitations and complementarity of batch and fractionation methods

Researchers evaluated a suite of techniques for measuring the size, shape, and chemical makeup of nanoplastics — plastic particles smaller than 1 micrometer — and found that no single method works for all sample types, especially when particles vary in size or clump together. Combining multiple complementary techniques is essential for reliable nanoplastic characterization, particularly in complex environmental or biological samples.

2023 Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry 56 citations
Article Tier 2

Challenges and Recent Analytical Advances in Micro/Nanoplastic Detection

This review covers the challenges scientists face in detecting and measuring micro- and nanoplastics in the environment, especially for particles smaller than one micrometer. Current analytical methods have significant limitations for identifying nanoplastics due to their extremely small size and diverse chemical compositions. Improving detection technology is essential for accurately assessing how much microplastic contamination exists in water, food, and human tissues.

2024 Analytical Chemistry 41 citations
Article Tier 2

Analytical methods and environmental processes of nanoplastics

This review examined current analytical methods for extracting, separating, identifying, and quantifying nanoplastics in environmental matrices, and summarized knowledge on their fate and transport pathways in the environment. The authors identified key gaps including detection limits too high to measure ultralow nanoplastic concentrations and an over-reliance on spherical polystyrene models that fail to represent the irregular shapes found in nature.

2020 Journal of Environmental Sciences 101 citations
Article Tier 2

The emergence of grass root chemical ecology

This paper discusses nanoplastics as an emerging environmental concern with significant knowledge gaps due to the lack of effective analytical methods for detecting and characterizing particles at the nanoscale. Better tools for identifying and measuring nanoplastics are urgently needed to assess their true prevalence and health risks.

2007 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 19 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics in the environment: Challenges in analytical chemistry - A review

This review examined the analytical chemistry challenges of detecting and characterizing microplastics in environmental samples, highlighting ongoing issues with standardization, method sensitivity, and comparability across studies.

2018 Analytica Chimica Acta 807 citations
Article Tier 2

A critical viewpoint on current issues, limitations, and future research needs on micro- and nanoplastic studies: From the detection to the toxicological assessment.

This critical review examines the current methods for detecting and characterizing micro- and nanoplastics in various environmental samples, as well as reported toxic effects from in vivo and in vitro studies. The authors found that while substantial effort has been made to understand microplastic behavior, the scientific community is still far from a complete understanding of how these particles behave in biological systems. The review calls for improved standardized protocols and more studies focused on uptake kinetics, accumulation, and biodistribution.

2019 Environmental Research 163 citations
Article Tier 2

A review on analytical performance of micro- and nanoplastics analysis methods

This review evaluated the analytical methods currently available for detecting and measuring micro- and nanoplastics in various environments. Researchers compared techniques based on their accuracy, sensitivity, and practical limitations, noting that particle size and the complexity of the surrounding material significantly affect method performance. The study identifies key challenges and provides guidance on selecting appropriate analytical approaches for different types of plastic pollution research.

2023 Arabian Journal of Chemistry 37 citations
Article Tier 2

Current Methods and Prospects for Analysis and Characterization of Nanomaterials in the Environment

This review summarizes current methods for analyzing and characterizing nanomaterials, including nanoplastics, in environmental samples such as water, soil, and air. Researchers evaluated techniques for sample preparation, separation, and detection, noting that low concentrations and structural complexity in natural settings remain major analytical challenges. The study identifies emerging approaches that may improve our ability to assess real-world nanoplastic exposure scenarios for environmental risk assessment.

2022 Environmental Science & Technology 68 citations
Article Tier 2

Methods and challenges in the detection of microplastics and nanoplastics: a mini‐review

This review evaluated the strengths and weaknesses of analytical methods used to detect and identify microplastics and nanoplastics, including microscopy, spectroscopy, and mass spectrometry techniques. Researchers identified key challenges such as distinguishing genuine environmental microplastics from contamination introduced during sample collection and processing. The study provides recommendations for improving data quality and reliability in microplastic research.

2021 Polymer International 177 citations
Article Tier 2

The micro-, submicron-, and nanoplastic hunt: A review of detection methods for plastic particles

This review systematically summarizes detection and characterization methods for micro-, submicron-, and nanoplastics, providing recommendations for method validation, standardization, and analytical pathways suited to different sample types and research goals.

2022 Chemosphere 136 citations
Article Tier 2

Chemical Analysis of Microplastics and Nanoplastics: Challenges, Advanced Methods, and Perspectives

This review covers the latest laboratory methods for detecting and measuring microplastics and nanoplastics in environmental samples like water, food, and air. Identifying these tiny particles is extremely challenging because they vary enormously in size, shape, and plastic type, and concentrations can differ by billions of times between samples. Better standardized detection methods are essential for accurately understanding how much microplastic humans are actually exposed to.

2021 Chemical Reviews 927 citations
Article Tier 2

Challenges in the search for nanoplastics in the environment—A critical review from the polymer science perspective

Researchers reviewed the scientific challenges in detecting nanoplastics — plastic particles smaller than 1 micrometer — in natural environments, noting that none had been confirmed in the wild at the time of the study despite being suspected to pose serious environmental risks. The review highlights the urgent need for better sampling, separation, and detection methods, since the very techniques needed to find nanoplastics are still being developed.

2020 Polymer Testing 97 citations
Article Tier 2

Current techniques for identifying, quantifying, and characterizing micro and nanoplastics with emphasis on strengths, limitations, and challenges

Researchers reviewed current analytical techniques for identifying, quantifying, and characterizing micro- and nanoplastics across environmental matrices. The review highlights the strengths and limitations of methods including FTIR, Raman spectroscopy, and pyrolysis-GC/MS, and calls for standardization to improve comparability across studies.

2025 Discover Environment
Article Tier 2

Searching Nanoplastics: From Sampling to Sample Processing

This review addresses the challenges of sampling and processing nanoplastics from environmental matrices, discussing how their infinitesimal size and physical diversity complicate detection, characterization, and quantification efforts.

2021 Polymers 47 citations
Article Tier 2

Quantifying micro- and nanoplastics

This work addresses methodological approaches for quantifying micro- and nanoplastics in environmental samples, examining analytical techniques, sampling strategies, and measurement challenges. The publication is part of the international research literature on standardizing plastic particle detection and quantification methods.

2024 SPIRE - Sciences Po Institutional REpository
Article Tier 2

Critical gaps in nanoplastics research and their connection to risk assessment

This paper identifies critical knowledge gaps in nanoplastics research and explains why they matter for assessing health and environmental risks. Nanoplastics are harder to detect and measure than larger microplastics, meaning current pollution estimates likely undercount total plastic contamination. The authors call for better detection methods and standardized research approaches to understand the true scope of nanoplastic exposure.

2023 Frontiers in Toxicology 56 citations
Article Tier 2

How small a nanoplastic can be? A discussion on the size of this ubiquitous pollutant

Researchers explored the question of how small nanoplastic particles can actually be, highlighting the lack of standardized size definitions for this emerging pollutant. They examined the analytical challenges involved in detecting and characterizing nanoplastics at the smallest scales. The study calls for a clearer framework around nanoplastic size boundaries, since particle size is a key factor influencing toxicity and environmental behavior.

2025 1 citations
Article Tier 2

The Emerging of Microplastic and Nanoplastic as Pollutants and their Characterization and Analysis

This review presents an integrated approach to sampling, sample preparation, and analytical methods for detecting microplastics and nanoplastics in solid and aqueous environmental samples, discussing current challenges and emerging methodologies for more accurate characterization.

2023 Brazilian Journal of Analytical Chemistry 3 citations
Article Tier 2

Nano-plastics and their analytical characterisation and fate in the marine environment: From source to sea

Researchers reviewed the sources, environmental fate, organism interactions, and analytical detection methods for nano-sized plastic polymers in the marine environment, concluding that nanoplastics pose the greatest ecological risk among plastic size fractions and that standardized analytical protocols for nanoplastic characterization are urgently needed.

2020 The Science of The Total Environment 142 citations
Article Tier 2

A comprehensive toolkit for micro- to nanoplastic analysis

This review presents a unified analytical toolkit integrating mass-based, particle-based, and morphology-based approaches to enable reliable detection, quantification, and standardization of micro- and nanoplastics across diverse environmental matrices. The framework is intended to improve comparability across studies and support robust monitoring of plastic pollution.

2025 Environmental Science Nano